The present invention relates to a spinning reel for fishing.
Conventionally, as known well, in a spinning reel for fishing, a semicircular-shaped bail is mounted on the leading ends of a pair of support arms provided in a rotor through a pair of support members in such a manner that it can be freely reversed between a fishing line take-up position side and a fishing line play-out position side, and a line roller for guiding a fishing line from the tip end of a fishing rod toward a spool is mounted on one of the two support members.
And, if the bail is reversed to the fishing line take-up position and the rotor is rotated in the fishing line take-up direction by operating a handle, then the fishing line is wound through the line roller around the spool which, in linking with the rotation of the rotor, traverses in the longitudinal direction thereof. On the other hand, if the bail is reversed to the fishing line play-out position side and the terminal tackles of the fishing rod is thrown, then the fishing line wound around the spool can be played out in a spiral manner.
That is, conventionally, in the spinning reel for fishing of this type, there is employed such structure that, when the fishing line is taken up, the line roller is rotated around the spool to thereby guide the fishing line from the tip end of the fishing rod toward the spool. However, with use of this structure, not only the rotation of the rotor causes the fishing line (outer line) to be twisted, but also the path of the fishing line cannot be stabilized due to variations in the position of the line roller with respect to a fishing rod guide, due to variations in the winding diameter of the fishing line to be wound around the spool, due to variations in the position of the longitudinally traversing spool, and the like, so that the fishing line can be slid in the axial direction of the line roller on the outer peripheral surface of the line roller as the fishing line is taken up onto the spool, which is known a great factor in causing the fishing line to be twisted.
In view of the above, in recent years, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-46467 of Heisei, Japanese Registered Utility Model Publication No. 3020798, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-308444 of Heisei, there has been proposed a structure of a type that a guide groove is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the line roller, or, in the line roller, there is provided a guide portion with which the fishing line can be contacted in the fishing line take-up operation to thereby restrict the movement of the fishing line on the outer peripheral surface of the line roller in the axial direction thereof so as to prevent the fishing line from being twisted unnecessarily.
Also, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-23834 of Heisei, there is disclosed a spinning reel for fishing structured such that a restricting portion for restricting the movement of the fishing line in the fishing line take-up operation is provided in the peripheral edge portion of the line roller and also the outer peripheral surface of the line roller is formed in a tapered surface. According to this spinning reel for fishing, not only the restricting portion restricts the movement of the fishing line on the outer peripheral surface of the line roller in the axial direction thereof to thereby be able to prevent the fishing line from being twisted on the line roller, but also the tapered shape of the outer peripheral surface of the line roller is used to give the fishing line the reversed rotation to the rotor rotation to thereby be able to reduce greatly the twisting of the outer part of the fishing line caused by the rotor rotation.
However, in actual fishing, the fishing line to be wound around the spool must be selected according to the kind and size of the fish to be angled, fishing methods and the like; that is, out of many kinds of fishing lines, a fishing line having a proper diameter is selected and used.
Therefore, in the conventional spinning reel for fishing structured such that a single guide groove is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the line roller to thereby restrict the movement of the fishing line in the axial direction of the line roller, only the fishing line having a diameter corresponding to the groove width of the guide groove can be used. That is, this conventional spinning reel for fishing is restricted by the fishing line used so that it is not able to use a wide variety of fishing lines due to the restrictions relating to the diameters of the fishing lines.
Also, in the conventional spinning reel for fishing structured such that the outer peripheral surface of the line roller is formed in a tapered surface as well, since the preferred taper angle of the tapered surface varies according to the diameters of the fishing lines. In other words, in the conventional spinning reels for fishing, in order to be able to cope with a wide variety of fishing line diameters, it is inconveniently necessary to prepare a plurality of spinning reels respectively mounting therein line rollers in which the groove widths of the guide grooves are different according to the diameters of the fishing lines used, or in which the taper angles of the tapered surfaces are different according to the diameters of the fishing line used.
Further, when the guide groove of the line roller is worn due to use for a long period of time, the present line roller must be replaced with a new line roller; that is, such line roller replacement requires another operation, which results in the inefficient operation of the spinning reel.